The Girl From Space
by Delrth
Summary: Kathy was born in space, and after her older sister gets caught stealing, she's left to fend for herself. She then develops an idea that will finally give her a chance at living, rather than hiding for the rest of her life. An AU that starts before the 100 land on Earth.
1. Chapter 1

"Mom. she's beautiful." The girl's mother doesn't respond. "Mom?" She was knocked out cold, she was pale, with sweat all over her face. "Mom?" She asks more urgently, the baby in her hands starts to cry. Realizing her mother wasn't going to wake up, she starts to rock the baby, trying to soothe her. "Shhh, please be quiet, please."

1 year later

"Mom?" The 8-year-old asks.

"What?" The girl's mother snaps.

"We need more food, can I borrow some credits?" She lifts her bottle, it reeks of liquor.

"Here."

"Don't tell me you wasted it on that." She takes another sip, and slowly fades out. The baby starts to cry. "Kathy honey please stop crying." Eliza picks up the baby and starts to rock her. "Shh, please be quiet I'm trying, I really am." After a couple minutes she falls asleep, and Eliza puts her down on her bed. It's in this moment that she realizes that she has to take care of this little girl in her arms. "I'll be back hon."

9 years later

Kathy's mother walks in, turning to her. "Leave."

"Mom- "

"Don't speak to me. It's because of you, that my daughter is going to die."

"I don't understand what- "

"Eliza is in lock-up. For stealing. She was trying to steal food, for you." She turns away from her second-born daughter. "I don't want to see you again." She widens the door, gesturing for her to leave.

Kathy leaves without a word, the first time she has ever left their small little room that she called home. She looks left and right, guards from the right are walking her direction. They look like they're on patrol, but she doesn't try her luck. She's been free for all of five seconds, she doesn't want to get locked up again, she turns left and walks away, knowing that if she runs she'll only bring attention to herself.

She walks around for hours, avoiding people the best she can, trying to find a place to sleep. The people she walks by ignore her, lucky for her, they all have different things to do. Eventually she finds a hidden, abandoned corridor, and at the end of that corridor is a door. She's tired and a little hungry, she tries the door, it's locked. It has an old fashioned lock, the kind that Eliza taught her how to unlock. She takes out the little piece of metal she keeps hidden in her boot, it takes her a couple of minutes, but it opens.

She looks inside, it's a small closet, with not much inside. What catches her attention is the little window close to the floor, that gives her a good view of Earth. She enters, shutting the door behind her, locking it. She sits down and looks out, for the first time in her life she gets a good look at Earth. For the first time in her life, she's all alone.


	2. Chapter 2

2 years later

"Hey Nigel, what do you have for me today?" I ask, approaching the woman I pretty much work for.

"Well hello little Kat, what makes you think I have anything for ya?"

"You always have something for me." Her face turns serious.

"You remember Councillor Kane, right?"

"Yeah, he's the one that's gunning for you, isn't he?"

"Yeah, and he's got something. Something that puts me in a bad light."

"And you need me to get it. Alright, what is it?" She smiles.

She and I both know that I'm not really in a position to say no, not that she really knows anything about me. She knows that I need her to survive, and that's all she needs to know, really.

"A drive, it's small, and it's likely that he has it in either his room or his office, that's all I know." The odds of this succeeding are low, and even though I need her, I don't do this kind of stuff for free.

"Hm. And what do I get in return?" She laughs, then turns.

"Follow me." She leads me to her back room. "I've got a couple of books I can't get off my hands, they're yours if you succeed, on top of your daily rations, which I will double, if you don't make any noise." A very generous deal. Too generous. Nigel doesn't do things out of kindness, and she knows my weakness for books, especially engineering and survival books. This is going to be very dangerous.

"How do I know I've got the right drive?"

"It's on a string, long enough to wear around your neck. The drive itself is very small, and a light blue color. It's got a password, so don't even bother trying to look at what's on it." Now I was really interested. I reached out to one of the books, to pick it up. "Hey, not until you get that drive, now out you go." She pushed me out the door, and locks it behind us. "I don't want to see you until you've got that drive, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Give me until the end of the day." I leave Nigel, and head towards Councillor Kane's room, lower security and more than likely he was already gone. The hallway with his room was clear, and I walk by it and that's when I notice his door requires a keycard. Damn. It was stupid of me to think that his room would be easy. I would need another way in. I keep walking past his room, looking around. Air ducts. I head towards the nearest closet, it'll most likely be the closest spot to enter the ducts without being seen.

The first closet I find is about five rooms down, and it's unlocked. It's empty except for a few boxes, and luckily, an air duct. I stack the boxes and pull out my blade, unscrewing the vent. I put it down and climb in, it's a tight fit but I can make it. It takes me quite a while. I gently push on the vent to his room, trying to prevent any visible damage. Finally it flies off, and I jump out, landing on the floor.

"For a Councillor, your room is hot mess, Kane." I say to the empty room. I spend about ten minutes searching his room, unlocking and locking doors, moving things and putting them back into place, careful to leave the room just as it was before I entered. It was quickly becoming clear that the drive wasn't in here. I put the vent back on, struggling a little bit, since I stripped the screws by kicking it off. I left the room, quickly and quietly.

My next plan is to search his office, which is going to be a lot more dangerous. On my way there, there's a big commotion, I try to pass through, but that's when I spot Kane with a troop of guards, it looks like a number of guys were in the middle of a fight, and he was trying to break it up. I don't know why but I stayed, watching the Councillor. It was after the fight was taken care of and everybody cleared out that I realized why I stayed. His neck. Of course the damn thing would be around his neck. How am I supposed to get it now?

That's when he looked at me. Shit. I nodded my head and walked away, trying to be as cool as possible. I felt his eyes on me until I made it to my room, but I knew he stopped looking the second I turned the corner. Whatever was on that drive was very important. I was going to need help with this, or I would fail. Knock Knock. I opened my door, and there stood a girl two years younger than me, and my only friend.

"What are you doing here Raven?"

"I just got out of class, want to go hunting?" She always loved hunting for scrap parts and metal, either using those scraps to build something or to trade it, usually through Nigel. Like me, she can't depend on her mom to take care her, and I try to help her when I can. I know her neighbor, Finn, tries to help her but he's just a little boy, 2 years younger than me, so I try to help him, too.

"Can't. I've got a job."

"Oh. Anything I can help you with?"

"No, you know I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know, I know, but come on."

"Fine. I do need a little help." She smiles and plops down on a box inside my little room.

"Whatcha need?" I can't help myself when a smile comes across my face. She's a brilliant girl.

"Kane's got something I need, and he wears it around his neck."

"Could always try and ask him nicely."

"Cute. But I don't think that's going to work."

"Alright, why can't you just snatch it?"

"From somebody so high-profile? I think not. And I get a bonus if it gets 'lost', not stolen."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Then the solution came to mind. "I've got it. I'll catch you later." And I left, heading to his office.

This plan was stupid but it's my best chance, I can't just steal something from a Councillor's neck, let alone get him to lose it. So maybe my best bet is to ask for it. It's stupid and reckless but it's all I've got. I head to his room, hoping to catch him in there. I get to his corridor and see him walking to his door, alone. Quietly, I catch up behind him and just as he closes the door I gently push against the door, preventing him from shutting it so I can walk in. I close the door behind me and he stares at me.

"I need to talk to you." He doesn't say anything for what feels like ages.

"Alright, you've got my attention." He says hesitantly. I point to his chest.

"That drive that you're wearing around your neck, I need it." He grabs it, holding it in his hand. He rips it from his neck, and holds it out to me. I look at the drive, then him. "I don't understand."

"I'll make you a deal. It's got a password, which means it's almost useless to me. If you can unlock it, you can have it. As long as I get a copy of what's on it." I'm good with technology, but if his people couldn't unlock it, I really doubt I could.

"I still don't understand." He smiles. "I've taken a look at it, but I don't know too much about unlocking these things. I asked a friend but they don't know much either."

"Why don't you just take it to engineering or somebody that does know? And what makes you think I know how to unlock it?"

"You know I could have you arrested? Breaking into my apartment, that's a crime that'll get you in lockup for sure. Not to mention that there are no records of your existence, anywhere, so anybody that you're connected to will either get floated, or be put in lockup, with you, like that girl, Reyes. My guess is that you're a second born child. Which is also a crime." A moment of silence passed between us.

"You've been watching me. How long?" He didn't answer. "It's because of Nigel. You've been watching her, and so you found me."

"I knew you were clever. Which makes me think you're clever enough to figure this," he lifts his hand, "out." I grab it, and walk over to his computer and plug it in, taking a seat in his chair.

"What's on it that's so special anyway?" He walks toward me, standing behind me, watching.

"Doesn't matter."

"Clearly it does matter. Otherwise you wouldn't have me trying to unlock it." He hesitates. The screen asks for a passcode, and I get to work, trying to override the drive. It's something that I've been learning to do since I met Nigel, close to 4 years ago.

"I don't know, to be honest. That's why this is so important. I… confiscated it from somebody."

"Oh yeah? And who might that be?" I look at him, his face is perplexed.

"Just keep working, alright?"

"Alright, mister boss man." It takes me a couple of minutes to figure out what kind of security there is on the drive, which turns out to be pretty low. "Considering how big of a deal you're making out of this, the level of security on this drive is weak." Kane stays quiet, most likely processing the information. It takes me a couple more minutes and then I finally unlock it, opening up the file folder, to see what's in it. I look to Kane. "It's all yours." I stand up and step off to the side, giving him space to sit down and browse the drive. He says nothing, and I stand there quietly, watching over his shoulder. Most of the information either made no sense, or was useless, and by the look on his face, he felt the same way.

"Damnit. This thing is useless." He seems like he forgot I was there, until he looks at me, with anger in his eyes. "Are you sure you didn't mess up?"

"I'm positive." He slams his desk with his fists, and shoots up, starting to pace. "What if I lock this drive, back the way it was, and give it to the person that asked me to retrieve it, from there I'll figure out who it belongs to and what's on it." He stops, and turns to me.

"I know who it belongs to." He pauses, hesitant to share this information. "It belongs to Nigel."

"Alright. Nice. This will be fun." I start locking the drive, erasing any trace that I was there. It takes me longer to do this, checking and rechecking that I'm not doing anything wrong. "I can't wait to try to trick the woman that taught me a good amount of what I know." I pull out the drive, and make eye contact with Kane, and I smile. "Should be a breeze." I walk towards the door, ready to leave, before I do, I turn to him, "You'll owe me, when I pull this off, just so you're aware." And I walk out the door, walking away as cool as I can. There's no way I can pull this off.

It's late, by the time I get to the commons, where Nigel usually is at this time of day.

"Well, well, my little Kat returns. I hope you've brought me something, you do remember what I told you earlier, don't you?"

"I do. That's why I didn't come empty-handed." I take out the drive from my pocket, holding it by the string. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"My oh my. Let me see it." She reaches out for it, waiting. I hand it over, praying that this works.

"What's on it that's so important?"

"Personal information." She plugs it into her tablet, most likely to check that everything is intact. "So how did our Councillor manage to misplace this drive?" She asks, looking at me.

"He might've lost it somewhere in his room, but how would I know?" Lying the best I can. "What kind of 'personal information'? She smiles, unnerving me.

"So many questions, little Kat. You know what curiosity does to cats, don't you?"

"Good thing I've got nine lives, then." She laughs.

"Since I like you, I'll just tell you. It really is just personal information. A record of my family, all the way back to the grounders that were the beginning of my line. And a list of everything I have… in stock. That way when I go through my stores every now and then, I know whether or not somebody is stealing from me."

"How did Kane even get it?"

"I don't know, but know this, I will figure it out."


End file.
